Fountainhead Arts Debuts Forum, a Fund Supporting Alumni Artists
DECEMBER 2, 2025 - Miami, FL. Fountainhead Arts, a premier artist residency and career development platform in Miami, is thrilled to announce the launch of Forum, a radical approach to supporting artists throughout their careers and the only program of its kind in the United States. Forum funds museum acquisitions, institutional exhibitions, and programming by alumni artists in museums and institutions around the world.
In its inaugural year, Forum will distribute $125,000 to benefit alumni artists Amy Bravo (2022 alum) Ebony G. Patterson (2013), Gabriela Ruiz (2025), Jenelle Esparza (2023), Kennedy Yanko (2017), Lucia Hierro (2016), and Victoria Udondian (2023). Their projects explore material and spatial concerns, address race, social, labor, and gender inequities, and center the work and ideas of diasporic artists; these works will appear in major national and international exhibitions to be announced at a later date.
To be considered, alumni artists apply for funding with statements of support from museum and institutional professionals confirming their intent to acquire or exhibit work by the artist. In addition to acquisitions and exhibitions, funding can be used for community programming and talks to engage new audiences, and content creation to enable people to experience the exhibition from afar. The goal is to continue growing the fund through donors and grants in future years.
In the United States, less than two percent of all grant dollars in the arts are directed toward individual artists, making it challenging for artists to address their financial needs when developing new work or projects. Museums and institutions, in turn, are presently faced with funding challenges at the federal, state, and local level, resulting in lower budgets to collect and exhibit ambitious artworks. A lack of structural support for the arts will invariably affect the artists whose work and ideas we rely on to shape culture. Fountainhead’s decision to double down and offer financial support to alumni artists—making it the only residency program in the country to offer post-residency support of this caliber— is a significant bet on its mission.
“We created the Forum because we recognize that museum and institutional exhibitions and acquisitions remain one of the most transformational moments in an artist’s career, and understand firsthand that sometimes museum and institutional budgets fall short of artists’ and curators’ visions,” says Fountainhead Arts’ director Kathryn Mikesell. “With Forum, I hope our alumni artists will be able to realize their ambitious dreams, carrying their work forward in a way that resonates with audiences globally.”
To create the Forum, Fountainhead intentionally selected and invited eleven people to serve as its Founders. Founders Caroline Larson, Donnalynn Patakos, Jill Ginsberg, Joyce Worthington Virga, Lois Whitman-Hess, Mary McIntosh, Pauline Shender, Sarah De Blasio, and Stephanie Krass each bring a unique perspective as collectors, philanthropists, and business leaders. In November 2025, the Jorge M. Perez Family Foundation additionally granted $25,000 toward Forum, to support the continued development and expansion of the program to serve more alumni in future years.
For more information, please contact Nicole Martinez, nicole@fountainheadarts.org or at +13054500414.
About Fountainhead
Founded in 2008, Fountainhead Arts is Miami's oldest-running artist residency, inviting 24 artists annually to live and work in Miami in one-month-long residency sessions. With a mission to elevate the voices, visibility and value of artists in our society and make their work accessible in a welcoming and inclusive environment, Fountainhead has welcomed over 580 artists from 50 countries and myriad national and international cities. It is considered one of the most prestigious American residencies for its robust career development objectives, which directly connects artists with professionals who can impact their careers, enhances their visibility through visual and critical documentation, and provides resources that continue beyond their initial residency. Major support for Fountainhead is provided by the State of Florida Division of Arts and Culture, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Leomi Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Jorge M. Perez Family Foundation, the Arison Arts Foundation, and others. Learn more at fountainheadarts.org.
